CDC: Sharp rise in prescription drug overdoses among U.S. women

5:23 PM,
Jul. 19, 2013

Written by

Steven Reinberg
HealthDay

The rate of fatal overdoses of prescription painkillers and other drugs among U.S. women quadrupled between 1999 and 2010, federal officials reported Tuesday.

Long thought of as primarily a male problem, drug addiction is increasingly affecting women, and the new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 42 women in the United States die each day from prescription drug overdoses.